Editing Carl Akeley (section)

==African expeditions==
[[File:Picture of Carl Akeley.jpg|thumb|Carl Akeley and the leopard he killed barehanded.]]
{{seealso|Akeley-Derscheid Expedition}}
Akeley first traveled to Africa in 1896 when he was invited by [[Daniel Giraud Elliot|Daniel Elliot]], Curator of the Zoology Department in the new Columbian Field Museum, on an eight month expedition to [[British Somaliland|Somaliland]]. It was on this trip that Akeley came face to face with a deadly 80-pound [[leopard]] which he strangled with his bare hands.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moag |first=Jeff |date=2019-07-12 |title=Killing a Leopard With His Bare Hands Was Only the Beginning for This Badass |url=https://www.adventure-journal.com/2019/07/killing-a-leopard-with-his-bare-hands-was-only-the-beginning-for-this-badass/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211030022036/https://www.adventure-journal.com/2019/07/killing-a-leopard-with-his-bare-hands-was-only-the-beginning-for-this-badass/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=2021-10-30 |access-date=2022-04-10 |website=Adventure Journal |language=en-US}}</ref> Akeley collected hundreds of animal specimens including: [[hartebeest]], [[gazelle]]s, [[hyena]]s, [[kudu]]s, [[oryx]], and lions. The process of collecting specimens included: killing, measuring, photographing, skinning, de-boning, preserving, and packing them for shipment back to Chicago.

In 1905, [[Marshall Field]] funded Akeley’s next trip to Africa which lasted twelve months and brought back two bull elephants which he would later mount for display.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Carl Akeley|url=https://www.fieldmuseum.org/about/history/carl-akeley|last=grings|date=2011-11-29|website=Field Museum|language=en|access-date=2020-05-12}}</ref> Akeley took nearly 1,000 glass plate photos and collected 17 tons of material including: 400 mammal skins, 1200 small mammal skins, 800 bird skins, and a fair number of bird and mammal skeletons. In addition to zoologic material he also collected more than 900 anthropological specimens and crates of leaves that he would use as models for his dioramas.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Field Museum of Natural History|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/25678|title=Bulletin /|last2=History|first2=Field Museum of Natural|date=1968|publisher=The Museum|volume=v. 39 (1968)|location=[Chicago]}}</ref>

In 1909, Akeley accompanied [[Theodore Roosevelt]] on a [[Smithsonian-Roosevelt African Expedition|year-long expedition]] in Africa funded by the [[Smithsonian Institution]] and began working at the [[American Museum of Natural History]] in New York City, where his efforts can still be seen in the Akeley Hall of African Mammals.  Akeley joined [[the Explorers Club]] in 1912, having been sponsored by three of the Club's seven Charter Members: [[Frank Chapman (ornithologist)|Frank Chapman]], [[Henry Collins Walsh]], and [[Marshall Saville]]. For qualifying, Akeley wrote only, "Explorations in Somaliland and British East Africa." He became the Club's sixth president serving from 1917–1918.[[File:Mountain Gorilla bust by Carl Akeley.jpg|thumb|"The Old Man of Mikeno", bronze bust of a [[mountain gorilla]] by Carl Akeley]]In 1921, eager to learn about gorillas to determine if killing them for museum dioramas was justified, Akeley led an expedition to Mt. Mikeno in the [[Virunga Mountains]] at the edge of the then [[Belgian Congo]]. At that time, gorillas were quite exotic, with very few even in zoos, and collecting such animals for educational museum exhibitions was not uncommon. In the process of "collecting" several [[mountain gorilla]]s, Akeley's attitude was fundamentally changed and for the remainder of his life he worked for the establishment of a gorilla preserve in the Virungas. In 1925, greatly influenced by Akeley, King [[Albert I of Belgium]] established the [[Albert National Park]], (since renamed [[Virunga National Park]]). It was Africa's first national park. Opposed to hunting them for sport or trophies, he remained an advocate of collection for scientific and educational purposes.<ref>Milwaukee Public Museum Exhibit: ''Samson Remembered''</ref> 

Akeley began his fifth journey to the Congo with the start of the dry season in late 1926. He died on November 18 of [[dysentery]] and was buried in Africa, just miles from where he encountered his first gorilla, the "Old Man of Mikeno".